Frankenstein
by Nautical Paramour
Summary: A three part Halloween retelling of Frankenstein in the Harry Potter world. Severus Snape was five years old when his mother died. It was the catalyst to an obsession with death. By age twenty, he'd spoken those immortal words - It's Alive! A/U.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Frankenstein.

A/N: This is a little Halloween story I've been working on, a bit of a re-telling for Frankenstein in the Harry Potter world. It has three parts. I will post on Fridays. I would love to hear what you have to think - should I keep posting? Thanks!

* * *

Severus Snape was five years old when he left Spinner's End and came to live at Hogwarts. His mother had been dead not even a week when the odd old man with a long white beard, bright blue eyes and purple robes came to collect him. His mother had been a witch, but his father was only a muggle and he didn't have the necessary skill nor desire to raise a child to be a young wizard. Severus tried not to cry when he left his only living family, but his father didn't seem too upset to be parted with him.

Severus had loved his mother the way any son does. To him, she was beautiful, with her pale skin and dark black hair. He remembered how she smiled when he asked her if she was Snow White, from the story. But when it was not just the two of them, his mother never smiled. Even as a boy, he recognized that she was deeply unhappy.

When the silly old man – Professor Dumbledore, he was called – brought him to Hogwarts, he quickly forgot the unhappiness of his previous life and enjoyed his time at the large castle. There were two other little boys that lived there as well. One was his own age and one was a year younger. Apparently, their father had died their mother couldn't bear to have reminders of her dead husband following her about.

The three of them looked rather similar with their pale skin and dark hair, except Sirius and Regulus had curly hair, where Severus's was dark. Plus, the two brothers had gray eyes, while his were dark as pitch. Still, the three of them became brothers, living at Hogwarts together.

Severus didn't get along much with Sirius, but he did love spending time with Regulus. Sirius wasn't nearly as contemplative as the other two boys and preferred to spend time playing practical jokes on Severus and Regulus and even Professor Dumbledore. Dumbledore never complained, instead quietly laughing at Sirius's tricks and sneaking him sweets.

They would spend hours exploring the edges of the forest, collecting plants and flowers and climbing trees. Severus would tell Regulus stories about how wonderful his mother had been, and how she'd been the most beautiful woman in the world. He would tell him about how his mother had been a princess, Snow White, and that being with Severus made her happier than anything.

Regulus would tell Severus about his own father, how he was big and strong and scary to others, but not him. Regulus explained that his father was called Orion and he had been his favorite person in the world. Once, they snuck out of the castle and stared up at the sky. The white stars seemed to illuminate the vast emptiness of the black sky. Regulus pointed out each star in the constellation Orion and told him that was where his father was, always watching down on him and Sirius.

That night Severus cried when he returned to his bed, trying to remember his mother's face, but it was all blurry, pale skin and dark hair. He didn't even know his mother's name.

Life trickled by slowly at Hogwarts, but Severus was progressively obsessed with the idea of bringing his mother back to life, just like Snow White. He knew that he could not give her a true love's kiss, but perhaps there was something magical that could imbue her with life again. After all, he could already summon things, change the color of Sirius's hair, and make easy potions. Surely when he was a bit older, he would be able to perform even more complicated magic.

He promised himself that he would work hard at his studies, so that one day he could bring his mother back from the dead, so that he might be together with her again.

* * *

Severus Snape was eight years old when the girl came to live with them at Hogwarts. She was a scrawny thing, five years old, with teeth too large for her face and mousy brown hair that was bushy and seemed to have a life of its own. She was called Hermione Granger.

Hermione was in awe of the castle that the three of them lived in with Professor Dumbledore. It was massive compared to her family's home and had plenty of nooks and crannies to hide and read in. It even had a huge library, filled with books on all kinds of subjects. Hermione was more in awe of magic, and the fact that she was a witch. It seemed preposterous to Severus that you could spend so long performing accidental magic and not know you were a witch. She delighted endlessly in summoning things to her, like books from tall shelves.

She was a rather intelligent little girl, but being that he was an eight year old boy, he had almost no time for her. Regulus hated her and frequently would push her down or repel her with a stinging hex to leave himself and Severus to their own playtime. It would make her cry and Severus often thought about how lonely she must be.

Sirius would take her under his wing, having much more tolerance for a swotty know-it-all to follow him around. Still, the pair of them were too different. Hermione was an introvert and enjoyed spending her time reading and learning, whereas Sirius wanted to go out exploring, getting into mischief and breaking things. Hermione adored following the rules and so Sirius and Hermione spent the majority of their time arguing, but together none the less.

Hermione was a muggleborn girl, Professor Dumbledore had told him. Apparently, her parents were muggles called dentists and Hermione's bouts of accidental magic caused too much for them. It caused too many questions, she didn't have any friends of her own and they were exasperated. When Professor Dumbledore came to their house to take her away, they were relieved that she would be with her own kind, more accepted and have friends to play with.

They didn't know about Regulus, who was cruel and called her a mudblood, a word that Severus had never heard of before. Professor Dumbledore scolded him and Sirius had given him a black eye, saying that their sister was just as much a witch as they were wizards. After that, Regulus was mostly kept in line, but he still wanted nothing to do with Hermione.

Severus didn't think of her as much of a sister.

* * *

Severus Snape was thirteen years old when he was sent away to learn under distinguished Potions Master, Horace Slughorn. Professor Dumbledore had noticed that Severus had an aptitude at making potions from a young age and decided that with more training, he could become a very accomplished brewer, maybe even a master himself.

Hermione was also good at brewing and she frequently helped Severus in his experimentation. They would spend hours at a time, working side by side in the little potions laboratory that Professor Dumbledore had set up for him. She would diligently prepare ingredients for him, neatly cutting, dicing and crushing, and Severus would experiment on new techniques to make the potions work better.

Hermione would give him an exasperated look when he deviated from the instructions, but he would try things anyway. Then she would get that pinched look on her face when his improvements worked. He tried to explain his reasoning behind the switches, but she'd just put her hands on her hips and say "But the instructions say…"

Severus would roll his eyes and continue work anyway. Still, he was happy to have a partner in the endeavor of potioneering. Regulus was absolutely shite at it because he didn't have the patience to complete anything properly. He never took the time to choose the best ingredients and he always stirred to fast, sometimes completely forgetting what number he was on. His results were mediocre at best, explosive at worst.

Despite Hermione's exuberant help with his academic pursuits, during play time, Severus continued to brush her off in favor of Regulus, leaving Hermione to fend for herself, or to put up with Sirius's whims. Still, Hermione seemed to adore him, and it didn't stop her from trying to spend time with him.

Professor Dumbledore had made the announcement at dinner one evening after seeing the improvements Severus had made to the Skele-Gro potion. His work was at the level of a prodigy and could no longer wither at Hogwarts, as Severus had surpassed what Dumbledore could teach him. Severus had swelled with pride at hearing that. Here he was, a thirteen year old boy, and Professor Dumbledore was one of the greatest wizards of all time.

Hermione had sobbed at the dinner table and the enchanted ceiling above the Great Hall where they ate began raining so hard that actual drops of water breached the barrier and misted on the four of them. "I don't want Severus to leave."

"It will be okay, Hermione." Professor Dumbledore told her, soothingly. "Soon you will be beginning your own focused classes."

"Can't I go with Severus? I am good at potions too!" She begged and it did tug at Severus's heart strings.

Professor Dumbledore just shook his head. Hermione continued to cry making Severus feel uncomfortable, but he didn't know what to do to make her feel better. Eventually, Sirius pulled her into a hug and whispered to her about all the fun things they would do together once Severus left. He promised to read with her in the library every night that week. This dried her tears, but sadness seemed to follow Hermione everywhere she went.

On the day that Severus was to leave, Regulus went out and hid in the forest and wouldn't say goodbye to him. Severus had searched for nearly an hour before deciding to return to his room. When he returned, he found items that he had painstakingly packed in his trunk strewn about his room. Annoyed he flicked open his trunk and found Hermione hiding inside. When she looked at him guiltily, he felt his anger dissipate.

He lifted her from the trunk and set her on her own two feet. "Well, are you going to help me pack this back up?" He asked expectantly.

"Oh, won't you take me with you Severus?" Hermione asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

In a moment of compassion, Severus brushed the tear from her eye. "I can't take you with me. What would I tell Master Slughorn?" He tried to think of a way to cheer her up, before thinking of one. "Will you write to me, while I am gone?"

Hermione blushed and nodded enthusiastically back at him. "Of course I will, Severus. Will you write back? Will you visit?"

"I'll visit when I can." He told her with a smile. With his trunk packed once again, he levitated it out of his room and into the entrance hall where Professor Dumbledore was waiting with the coach, Hermione following close behind him. Sirius was waiting there as well, to say goodbye, but he honestly thought that Sirius was rather glad to be rid of him. There was still no sign of Regulus, so by the time his trunk was packed on the coach, he'd no choice but to leave.

Once he was alone in the coach, he found himself feeling very alone for the first time since he came to Hogwarts.

* * *

There were two other children under Potion Master Slughorn's tutorage with Severus. One was a red haired girl called Lily, who was the same age as him. The other was a blond boy called Lucius who was two years older than Severus. He liked them both immensely.

Lily was a muggleborn girl. Severus told her all about his sister Hermione, who was also a muggleborn. Lucius snuffed at this, but didn't say anything about it. She was very good at potions as well, but Severus found that they didn't work together as well as he worked with Hermione. They were constantly butting heads over what to try next.

Lucius quickly became his best friend. He was smart, good looking and rich. He apparently didn't need to complete pursuits in academia, but his father thought it would be a good way to keep him focused until his betrothed came of age. Lucius was a good potioneer, but didn't have the creativity that Lily and Severus had. It didn't seem to bother him though.

He wrote Hermione once a week at the beginning and she wrote back just as frequently. Regulus had scribbled an apology at the bottom of her first letter, and wrote that he missed Severus. Hermione told him about the banal goings on of Hogwarts and asked him about his research. It made him long for Hogwarts.

Soon, he became quite busy with his work, and sweet Hermione's letters were answered with less and less frequency. She still wrote once a week, but after a while her writing also dropped off, until she only sent him letters on his birthday. Severus was ashamed to say that he never wrote back.

* * *

Severus Snape was fifteen when he first fell in love. It seemed as if one night he'd gone to bed and woken up the next morning to meet a beautiful creature. Lily Evans had fiery red hair that he longed to grasp within his hands, allowing its silkiness to run between his fingers. Her eyes were a sparkling green and unlike anything he'd seen before. They always seemed to hold a smile for him. Her skin was pale like cream and unblemished by a single freckle.

He found himself staring at her in lessons, unable to tear his eyes away from the creature before him. How was it possible that he'd never noticed her beauty before? She'd even caused him to burn a batch of pepperup potion to his embarrassment.

Even better for him, it seemed as though she liked him too. She always laughed at his jokes, complimented his intelligence and he loved when she said his name the way that only she did. "S-ev!" Oh, to hear that made his heart beat so fast that he was certain that she could hear it.

Severus was sure that he could spend the rest of his life with this woman, if she'd have him.

* * *

Severus Snape was seventeen when he had his heart broken.

He had been sent out by Master Slughorn to find Lily who'd walked into the village on her day off. A rather big order had come in and so it was all hands on deck. He wandered around for nearly an hour before he spied his red haired girl sitting on a bench with a man with messy black hair.

As he approached them, he noticed that they were kissing each other. He felt as though his heart was being ripped straight from his chest, and he desperately fought off the urge to cry. He stood in front of the pair, but they were too wrapped up in each other to notice his presence. "Sorry to bother you, Lily, but Master Slughorn needs us for an order."

The boy, who looked very arrogant and annoyed. "And who are you?"

"Severus Snape." He replied, keeping an even voice. "I am Lily's friend."

"That's odd. She's never mentioned you before." The man stood and help Lily to her feet. He kissed her again, uncaring of his audience, and allowed his hands to stray to her bottom. It was crass and humiliating. "I swear Lily, once we are married, your free time will be your free time. No filling orders if you don't want to." And then he left.

The pair of them walked back to Slughorn's. "You are…affianced?" Severus ventured, annoyed that she hadn't told him. For two years she'd sent him private smiles and shared in little jokes with him. Every time she touched him his heart had accelerated in longing and he was positive that they were the best of friends at least.

"Yes, that's James Potter. We will be married in the spring." Lily told him sweetly.

"You shouldn't let him treat you like that, pawing at you in public not caring at who sees." Severus said, revealing his vitriol.

"I don't see how it's any of your business, Severus." She responded cooly.

And that was it. It was too painful to continue their friendship and he was only just able to continue to work with her until she left in the spring. The day that she left to marry that tosser, he felt dead inside.

It was the first time, in a long time, that he thought about his mother. He thought about his promise he made in childhood to bring her back from the icy grasp of death. From that day on, death was his obsession.

* * *

Severus Snape was eighteen years old when he had the stroke of brilliance that a potion might bring someone back from the dead. All this life, and specifically within the last two years, he'd thought that a spell would be the method to instill life into someone. He'd become obsessed with the idea and pondered endlessly about how wonderful it would be to have that kind of power, to give someone breathe and vitality again.

He'd stumbled upon the idea one day when he was working on developing an antidote to Draught of the Living Death. He figured that if he were able to put together ingredients that would bring someone back from a potion that would kill, given it had enough time to work, then perhaps it could be used to bring someone back from other forms of death – arnica to reduce the inflammation that dead bodies were prone to, feverfew to purge infection from the body, turmeric to counteract disruption of the liver.

He'd brought up his theories to Lucius, casually. At first the other man didn't think much about it. Lucius had recently received a portrait of his intended, one Miss Narcissa Black, that he had been mooning over for weeks now. Severus would admit that she was quite beautiful, but after his heart had been destroyed by Lily Evans, he never wanted to love again. It was all the better, seeing as he was assured that no one would love him back either. How could they, when he himself recognized how ugly he was, with his large, hooked nose and sallow skin?

Still, Lucius quickly saw that Severus was quite intent on making this work and began to guide and assist him with his endeavor. Severus's focus of his potions mastery was antidotes, while Lucius's was mind potions. Seeing as veritaserum was already quite perfect, there was little for Lucius to add to it, leaving him with a lot of spare time.

Soon, Lucius began asking if there were a way that you could bring someone back who'd died from the Avada Kedavra curse. It made Severus shudder to think of it, but it had possibilities. It was an evil curse and he couldn't begin to think of the ramifications of bringing back someone who'd died from such dark magic. Would they even be the same?

He kept that in his mind while he worked on perfecting his potion for other kinds of death. He'd been successful in reanimating one squirrel that had just recently died, but the creature was demented and ran about in circles, without its mind, until Severus finally took pity on the poor beast and killed it again.

He confessed this to Lucius, feeling horror roil in his stomach at what he'd created. He couldn't bare the idea of bringing a _human_ back to that kind of an existence. After much discussion, Severus came to the conclusion that at least part of it was due to damage to the _soul_. Without your soul, you'd be mindless, pointless, listless. He thought of his mother, a blur of black and white, though, and pressed on. To see her face again…

At this time, Lucius again brought up the idea of reanimating someone who'd died from the Killing Curse. This seemed even more horrifying to Severus as the curse killed the soul of the victim. How could you go about bringing someone back to life without a soul? That was exactly what he wanted to prevent.

It seemed as though Lucius knew more than he was letting on and continued to guide Severus this way and that. Severus was annoyed, wanting his damnedable blond haired friend to just tell him what it was that he was trying to achieve. Still, Severus worked on a potion that would bring someone back from the Killing Curse. Some of the ingredients that he tried were unorthodox, and Severus felt a twinge of guilt. Sure blood magic wasn't illegal, but it was highly frowned upon. Still, he set those qualms aside, obsessed with his task, and tried them any way.

Once he was quite certain he had something that might bring someone back to life, he brought up to Lucius the lack of the soul, and how that was necessary to bring someone back without damning them to an unlife. It was then that Lucius played his hand.

He waited until she was certain that Master Slughorn was gone for the day, and then warding the area, and setting up their little laboratory with silencing charms to boot. It made the hair on Severus's arms stand up. Lucius told him of a man, who was able to place bits of his soul into objects, but who had died many years ago. He was an extremely powerful wizard and one who would have done anything for control. He told Severus of how the wizard, called Lord Voldemort – self-stylized, Severus was sure, as he'd never heard of a Lord Voldemort across England, Wales or Scotland – was ruthless and unyielding in his endeavor of domination. His plan was to assert wizarding dominance over the mindless muggles. But, he had been killed, by none other than Professor Dumbledore, many years ago before he could realize his dream.

Lucius said that, through repeated use, an object could become tainted with a remainder of a person, could hold a piece of their very essence. If the soul had already been ripped through some traumatic experience, even better. A diary, frequently written in, a necklace, well worn, a cup, drank from daily – any and all of these things could hold a piece of us. The thought alone made Severus want to smash the tea cup that sat on his bedside table.

Still, he thought of his beautiful mother, and how she had brushed her hair every evening with the same brush, lovingly detangling the black hair. And his mother certainly had had trauma in her life, why Severus's own muggle father was the cause of most of it.

When Lucius brought him the diary of Lord Voldemort, Severus was overcome with the evil that he felt in the object. He didn't wish to hold the black leather bound paper for more than a few minutes. But, Severus took the object from Lucius, wrapped it tightly, and placed it at the bottom of his trunk. He promised his friend that he would renew his work, and bring back Lord Voldemort from the grave.

* * *

Severus was twenty years old when he returned home to Hogwarts. He'd just freshly received his potions mastery and was quite proud to show it off. Lucius had left several months before to prepare for his nuptials, as his beloved Narcissa would be coming of age soon.

When Severus had received Hermione's letters, he was surprised. She usually sent him one extremely long epistolary for his birthday, which spanned several rolls of parchment in her small, neat, looping handwriting. She would tell him in banal detail about the goings on of Hogwarts – Regulus was studying astronomy, but he didn't care for the centaurs, Regulus had taken a House Elf, which Hermione found most distasteful. He wanted to say that it annoyed him, but he read each and every word with fondness.

But when he read this missive, which arrived in late September, he was shocked to read that Professor Dumbledore had died of natural causes, and that his presence was requested at home, for the funeral. In his mind, Professor Dumbledore had been ageless, but at the same time, he'd always seemed like a rather old man. He could see Hermione's tears on the page where it had smudged the ink.

Dutifully, Severus had packed up his trunk and set off back to Scotland, to Hogwarts, to home.

* * *

His carriage ride was long and lonely. When he'd left Hogwarts all those years ago, he wasn't nervous at all. Instead he was filled with eagerness, excitement at getting to learn new things from a Potions Master. But now, he was a Potions Master himself and returning for the funeral of a man who was more like a father to him than his own father had been.

He felt ashamed that he hadn't even thought much of the rag tag family that he'd left behind. He'd been too absorbed in his own ambitions and desires to pay them any mind. Regulus had been like a brother to him, but he'd left without so much as a good bye. And sweet Hermione, he still remembered how she'd hidden herself in his trunk to go with him. Would they even remember him?

Severus had changed much in the seven years he'd been away. When he'd left he'd just been a boy, gangly and awkward. He'd grown much taller in the years since, and while he was still quite lanky, he'd grown into his body. He never grew into his nose, which was crooked and large and his teeth were more yellow due to the copious amount of tea he drank.

After an indescribably long time, he finally arrived at Hogwarts once again. He'd barely had time to set down his trunk before a small girl – no woman, from the feel of her soft breasts pressed against his chest – launched herself into his arms. "Oh Severus, I am ever so happy to see you."

Hermione looked up at him with bright eyes. She was wearing a black mourning gown, but it could do nothing to diminish her beauty. Her skin was pink like the new morning's glow and her cheeks were flushed. Her brown eyes, which he'd always remembered as being a mud color, were sparkling and more golden than he ever recalled. Her frizzy brown hair, long since tamed, was now curly and wild, like she'd just woken from slumber. She was like Sleeping Beauty. Was it truly possible that this enchanting creature was the same girl he'd left behind all those years ago?

Finally, realizing that he'd been staring at her, he spoke. "I am delighted to see you as well, Hermione. Though I wish it was on more pleasant terms." He looked around the entrance hall. "Where are Sirius and Regulus?"

"Why don't I show you to your room? I can explain along the way." Hermione told him with a grimace.

Severus agreed and began to levitate his trunk down to his rooms, where he'd spent so many nights sleeping previously.

Hermione explained that she and Sirius both studied Transfiguration with Professor Dumbledore, but that she also indulged in some Arithmancy study. She told him that Sirius was off on his vision quest, to determine this animagus form. She was beautiful when she explained the human to animal transformation and told him that she hoped to begin her own study as well. She confided that she had considered tracking Sirius down, but that she'd decided against it seeing as Professor Dumbledore would have wanted Sirius to continue with his task.

Severus thought darkly that Sirius and Hermione had become quite close, but he felt oddly relieved at the idea that it was more a sisterly devotion she felt for the elder Black brother.

"Regulus will be joining us for dinner later this evening." Hermione said tritely. "He has been studying astronomy with the centaurs in the forest, and so he sleeps through the day."

They entered his room, and he found it exactly as he left it, but clean. His sheets were turned down and he wanted nothing more than to curl into the bed and sleep. Hermione sat down on the edge of the bed and he tried not to think of her in such an improper manner. The black dress she wore clung to her feminine curves and it was quite a distraction.

"Honestly, I don't know what's gotten into Regulus lately. His mother died a year or so back and he's changed ever since then. She sent along a box of family heirlooms and an awful house elf called Kreacher. He's taken to wearing this giant emerald locket that was said to be owned by Salazar Slytherin himself. And Kreacher follows him everywhere, practically hero-worships Reggie, but he hates me. He's constantly calling me mudblood." Hermione said dejectedly.

Severus looked aghast. "Surely Regulus doesn't call you that?"

"No, he hasn't called me that in years, but he never stops Kreacher from doing it." Hermione said darkly. Then she shook off the morose pall that had fallen on her face. "Well, I ought to let you get cleaned up for dinner, then Severus. I am so glad you are home." She told him with a genuine smile on her face.

Severus felt his heart clench at her sincerity. She was so sweet and pure, she wouldn't possibly think of having such a dark and brooding husband as himself, but it didn't stop his mind from conjuring the possibility.

When he arrived at dinner, Regulus and Hermione were already seated at the long table. Regulus was also wearing all black, save the huge locket on his neck, with its heavy silver chain. Regulus hugged his old friend – more brother than his own brother – and apologized again for not seeing him off all those years ago.

Regulus was a slight man and several inches shorter than Severus himself. He was very good looking, though, Severus could objectively say, with wavy hair dark as pitch and dark eyes. He could still see traces of the boy he remembered.

Watching Regulus at dinner, though, made Severus painfully aware that he didn't know Regulus at all. He watched in disgust as the dirty little house elf fawned over Regulus, preparing his food for him and ignoring the other two at the table. When Regulus was eating, the little beast, with a tea towel for its loincloth, whispered and muttered about filthy mudbloods sharing the table with his pureblood master.

The locket around his neck was the most troubling of all. It seemed to glow with an unnatural green light and there was something undeniably dark about it. Whenever Severus seemed to look at it for too long, Regulus would grab the emerald locket in his hand, almost unconsciously. It was disturbing, to say the least.

* * *

The funeral passed without incident. It was raining heavily, but the three of them trudged out to the grounds to the little cemetery nearby Hogwarts. Regulus and Severus stood silently, in quiet contemplation, but Hermione's tears could be heard even over the din of the rain.

Severus took the opportunity to allow her to lean on him. He ran his fingers through her damp curls and tried to be too pleased with the situation.

But soon, a name on one of the headstones caught his eye, as he tried to remember where he'd heard it before. Tom Riddle. With a chill that extended to the bone, which certainly wasn't from the rain, he knew it was also on the diary at the bottom of his trunk.

* * *

In the weeks following Dumbledore's funeral, Severus was like a man possessed working on his potion. It consumed nearly all of his waking thoughts and it haunted his dreams. Now that he was so close to creating a solution, it was the only thing he could work on.

That and his relationship with sweet Hermione. Luckily, there was a lot of overlap between the two, as she was quite insistent on spending time with him as well. They had quickly fallen into old habit of her assisting him with the preparation and location of ingredients, while he worked diligently over his cauldrons.

He didn't tell her what he was making exactly, just telling her that it was an antidote to the Draught of the Living Death. She was quite interested in his calculations and helped him refine some of the amounts needed for the potion, as well as suggesting some ingredients that he hadn't thought of before. She'd even suggest blood magic, though the blood of an animal. He'd forgotten how extensive the Hogwarts library was and did find several tomes that he hoped would be useful to him.

He never allowed her to be with him in his laboratory while he tested the potion, telling her that he had to test it on live animals and she didn't want to see them in pain. Horrified at the idea of spilling innocent blood, even of an animal, she left Severus alone to test it.

Slowly, over the weeks, the potion was coming along nicely, and he was able to bring back birds, squirrels and even rabbits. He thought he might try it on a dog soon, before he tried to bring back the man buried in the cemetery. The only issue that remained was that the animals were clearly demented, having lost their minds and it was horrific to imagine putting a human through that. Still, he figured that he would be able to kill the human he brought back should any issues arise.

His relationship with Hermione progressed as well. She was a delight to talk to, about pursuits intellectual and otherwise. Sometimes they would ride about the grounds on horses and discuss arithmetic principles and sometimes they would sit in the parlor by the warm fire and Hermione would play the piano.

At first, he was positive that someone as beautiful as Hermione could never love him, but he slowly saw the pure devotion in her eyes that she held for him. She was consumed with his person and he would be lying if he said he didn't love it. He was reluctant to encourage the relationship, the sting of Lily's rejection still fresh in his mind, despite happening years ago. He was also painfully aware of how different the pair of them was. Hermione was full of life, vivacious and funny. She'd ditched the mourning robes and had begun to wear bright blues and purples which complemented her lovely complexion. He, on the other hand, was dour, ugly and obsessed with bringing someone back from death.

But she remained utterly devoted to him, and slowly he found himself giving into her light touches and demure smiles. The first time they kissed, they had been caught outside riding during a sudden rainstorm. Once they were safe in the barn, Hermione had laughed so prettily that he couldn't help himself but bend over and place a kiss on her cheek. She'd blushed and smiled and quieted her laughter.

Once after dinner, when they were sharing a warm brandy in front of the fire of the library, Hermione had wedged herself right next to him on the couch. They sat there, content, reading for hours, until finally, staring up at him with those hazelnut eyes of hers, Hermione planted her lips on his own. They were soft and smooth and everything he'd imagined it would be.

Another time still, after Kreacher had been particularly nasty to Hermione, he walked her back to her rooms. He'd dried her tears from her cheeks and placed his lips to hers in a show of comfort. But it seemed that comfort was far from her mind when she pressed her body tightly to his and ran her tongue along the seam of his lips. She explored his mouth with an abandon that had him curling his toes in rapture. It was everything he'd dreamed of and more. The soft press of her breasts against his chest had him pulling away, for fear that he'd expose his hard desire for her.

Severus wanted nothing more than to be devoted to Hermione forever, but first he needed to attempt his potions, to call something back from the dead, to play god among wizards, to master death. He needed to do away with this obsession so he could once again rejoin the living. After sufficient testing, he was ready to attempt the potion on the body that rested out in the cemetery.

He'd selected the night of All Hallows Eve, as the centaurs had a sacred ritual that night and so he could count on not running into Regulus in the forest. He'd given both Hermione and Regulus a mild sleeping draught with dinner, so they both retired to their rooms quite early.

Severus went down to his potions laboratory to retrieve the cauldron and ingredients he'd already prepared. Holding that damned leather book in his hand gave him an eerie feeling of this being an awful, terrible idea, but he'd already come to far to turn back now. He set off into the rain on foot, towards the cemetery. The rain that had fallen all day long had been transformed into a thunderstorm.

The first crack of thunder frightened him. It seemed as if Mother Nature were telling him to turn around, begging, pleading with him to go back. He shook his head though, and continued, making his way to the cemetery, using the lightning in the sky to guide his path. In the eerie white light of the sky, the cemetery seemed to have taken on a sinister quality, but he didn't mind. Instead he placed a drying charm on the cauldron to keep it safe from the rain and got out the shovel.

Despite his well placed drying charms, the ground was still quite muddy. The first penetration of the dirt with his shovel filled him with an anticipation like nothing he'd known. It was slow work, but he was quickly making headway. His arms and back ached, but he pressed on until he felt the pine box beneath him.

Eager, he pried the box open, and moved to stand within the coffin. He was certain this was some kind of desecration to the dead, but he was like a man possessed. Inside, he found only bones remained. "So you are the man Professor Dumbledore killed? I wonder what you'd done to him." He murmured quietly to the skeleton. The skull was somehow grotesque to look at with its perfect white teeth still intact.

Jumping out of the grave, he used his wand to levitate the bones from their resting place to near the cauldron. Taking aim and the little burner beneath the suspended cauldron, he lit the fuel so that he could commence with brewing.

Severus rubbed his hands together in anticipation. He didn't care that he was soaked to the bone or that his lower half was covered in grave dirt mud. He reverently placed the bones into the large pewter cauldron, before adding ingredients one by one - ingredients that his loving Hermione had so meticulously prepared.

What would she think if she saw him now? A grave robber? Would she see only madness, a man possessed by death? Or would she see his pure genius? Surely the wizarding world would recognize him as one of the greats on the scale of Merlin for his masterful feat. He would have job offers and grants of money to continue his research and he could give Hermione the life she deserved. He could have his mother back and see her smile again.

The bones had already dissolved into the boiling liquid, when he needed to perform the blood sacrifice. It was truly inspired to consider the blood sacrifice, as Hermione had suggested, but animal blood wouldn't suffice. No, he needed blood of a witch or wizard, imbued with magic. He cut the palm of his left hand and watched as the drops slid off his hand and into the massive cauldron. The chalky white liquid was transformed into a vivid green, unnatural in its hue.

Finally, all that was left was to add the book, add the piece of soul to the potion. The book seemed to sing as he held it in his hands, seductive whispers telling him to put it in the cauldron. It sounded like Hermione's voice, but like he'd never heard it before. A lover's caress. Severus knew what he had to do, and tossed the diary - Tom Riddle's soul - into the boiling mixture.

He watched as the contents began to boil and hiss, great bubbles popping and spitting. The green liquid lost it's shade until it turned a black color that had Severus feeling ill to look at. Then, as quickly as it began, the reaction stopped, living still black water in the cauldron.

That was it.

Severus instantly fell to his knees, overcome with the weight of his failure. Why didn't it work? His heart ached and his mind raced and he was ashamed that months, nay years, of dedicated work had been for naught. Not to mention that the book that Lucius had given him was destroyed beyond repair. Oh, what would become of him now? He wasn't a genius or a god. He was merely a foolish man.

Aiming his wand at the flame beneath the behemoth of a cauldron, he extinguished the flames without pomp. He was disgraced.

Sighing, Severus wiped his sweaty palms on his trousers. At least no one was here to witness his humiliation.

Then a noise startled him. He'd become accustomed to the patter of the rain and the rumbles of the thunder, but this...this was a scratching, that sent dread to the pit of his stomach. He looked up at the cauldron and was shocked to see a white hand gripping the edge of the pewter.

Standing, triumphant and elated, Severus whispered first, more question than fact. "It's alive?" Seeing movement of the hand, he again shouted. "It's Alive!"


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Frankenstein.

Thanks to those who followed and favorited. Big thanks to my reviewers.

 **SereniteRose** : I confess I haven't actually read the book. I tried to read it twice when I was younger, and it was much too scary both times...maybe I should try again now that I am an adult! I did see Danny Boyle's production at the National Theater. I am following the book a little, but I've obviously taken some liberties. I hope you don't mind!

 **Qoheleth** : This story was written kind of without intending to set a time period. It defintely isn't taking place in the 1970s, but rather vaguely in the 18th century, without being too precise (obviously). I just wanted it to be kind of timeless. So no, there is no explanation of how Hermione was taken out of her place in time and that's why it's an Alternate Universe.

 **Pwrmom2** : Glad you are enjoying! Believe me, I don't think Severus or Voldemort are too happy with Lucius...

 **CassieRenee333** : So happy you are liking this little Halloween treat. I love spooky stuff, so October is a fun month for me, and I wanted everyone to enjoy.

 **everlastingtrueromance** : I haven't actually seen any previews for it. I hate scary movies, but I think I would probably go see it anyway. It's like Harry Potter, Game of Thrones and Sherlock all come together in terms of actors!

Final chapter out next Friday!

 **Warning: Character Death.**

* * *

Severus looked on as his creation - his perfect creation - stood from the cauldron and struggled to gain control of his limbs. It wasn't the perfection creation, perfect human that he had envisioned. In it's place was a hideous monster, terrible to look at.

It's skin was white like the belly of a writhing fish and it was stretched grotesquely, showing the spasming of the muscles beneath the skin, dripping with the black sludge of the potion. It was tall for a man and it seemed unused to the proportion of its limbs. It was as naked as if it was just born, his cauldron a rotten womb. Its face had no nose and only slits for nostrils. Severus looked into its eyes and was horrified to see an unnatural red staring back at him.

And when the monster tried to speak, a series of unnatural sounds were issued forth from its mouth, sounding more like the hissing of snakes. Its register was high and the tone was reedy and completely inhumane.

Severus felt the acidic taste of bile in his mouth and fought down the urge to retch out here in the forest. How could he have done this? How could he have unleashed such a hideous beast onto mankind?

And then, the thing reached out for him, as if asking for help. Severus shuddered in revulsion. He had to kill it now, as he'd done countless times with small rodents and woodland creatures. This was so much more horrible than a squirrel with no mind who'd ran in circles. It was a beast masquerading in a human's skin, its demented actions giving away its defects.

Severus raised his wand to the creature and it immediately covered its face - its hideous mask - with its arms, as if to protect itself. "D-d-don't." It said.

The knowledge that such a monster might be able to speak made Severus's heart leap into his throat. Oh, he couldn't possibly kill the thing now, but he had to get away from it quickly. He couldn't bare to see its cold red gaze any longer, knowing that he'd created such a thing.

Turning on his heel, Severus ran back towards Hogwarts castle, not giving a second glance to the cemetery. His sole concern was to create as much space between him and the creature as possible.

When he arrived back in the dry sanctuary of Hogwarts, he immediately retched in the entrance way, and was immensely glad that neither Hermione nor Regulus was there to see him in this broken state. He vanished his mess immediately and hastily scrawled a note letting the pair know of his departure. He also added a few more wards to the castle, in case the beast had followed him back.

He needed to speak to Lucius about what he'd done, and so he hoped on his horse and rode through the night and the following day, terrified that he might see the monster struggling to walk, chasing him.

* * *

Hermione had been very annoyed to wake up to a note left by Severus that he needed to return to London to visit his friend Lucius. Apparently, he was one of the friends Severus had made during his time with Master Slughorn and he was getting married. Hermione thought it was rather impolite to give your wedding guests so little notice, so that they might have to leave in the middle of the night to make the ceremony.

She sighed. If she was honest with herself, she was mostly just upset that Severus had left again so quickly after he'd come home. She thought that they'd become quite close in the weeks since his return, and that they might be kindling the fires of new love, having shared more and a few clandestine kisses, away from the suspicious eye of Regulus.

Regulus had become much more reclusive since Severus had left, rarely taking meals with her anymore, preferring the company of Kreacher to her. It left her with a lot of time on her hands, and Hermione was becoming excessively lonely.

She decided that she would throw herself into her studies so that she might have something to pass the time. After careful consideration, she decided to begin meditation so that she might find her animagus form. It was said that it took many months, sometimes years to fully achieve the shift, and most of that time was spent in intense focus. This was sure to keep her mind from wandering to thoughts of Severus and to keep her from loneliness.

Despite it being November, she decided to go into the Forbidden Forest to determine her form. It was a bit cold, but she was quite good with warming charms and dressed in a thick woolen dress to keep the bitterness at bay. She sat cross legged on the ground and closed her eyes, listening to the rustling of the leaves and the fluttering of wings. She pushed everything else out from her mind, so that she might become one with nature.

Before long, she thought that she heard a hiss. Her eyes snapped open, and she looked around, but was unable to find and animal making such a noise. Deciding that it must be a trick of the imagination, she closed her eyes again, taking deep breaths. Then she heard it again, like a whisper, tickling her ear.

Hermione immediately stood. "Who's there?" She demanded.

"Hello." She heard from a thickly wooded edge of the clearing. The voice was like a hiss and very high pitched. She thought that it could not possibly be a human that made that sound, but it spoke her language all the same.

"Hello." Hermione replied, trying to calm her wildly beating heart. She was able to make out two red eyes from the leaves, but all of its other features were concealed. "Why are you hiding in there?" She asked, curious.

The creature made no move to reply and when she began walking towards the thicket, the eyes disappeared. When she shook the branches, there was no one there.

* * *

Hermione had returned to the clearing for several days, but didn't see any more of the creature or whatever it was that had spoken to her. At first, it had made the hair on her neck stand up to think about it, but she knew that it must be some kind of magical creature.

The Forbidden Forest had been initially forbidden to the four children, but they had spent so much time playing there that it had lost some of its ominousness. Plus, with Regulus wandering in it every night, it made it seem almost harmless. It was important to recognize that there were other magical creatures inside its depths than just centaurs.

In her meditation, Hermione was able to just see the glimpse of feathers, so she knew she was becoming close to understanding what her animagus form would be. Oh, she was so excited, she would have to write to Sirius to let him know what she was bound to transform into. Quickly, she was able to focus just on the meditation and not what might be out there in the forest.

Hermione lifted her wand and began to set up her warming charms, when a voice startled her. "Why are you always using that stick?" The hissing voice sent chills up her spine, and caused Hermione to drop her wand in shock. There on the edge of the clearing, the red eyes had returned.

Hermione bent to retrieve the stick. "Who are you?" She demanded.

"I have many names." It replied, soothingly. When she began to creep towards the thicket that hid his form, it called out to her again. "Please don't come near me. I am quite shy."

Hermione immediately stopped, deciding to grant the wishes of the creature for now. "Who are you?" She asked again, much more calmly. Its voice was rather high pitched...perhaps it was a child of some kind? She remembered being a child, thrust into this unusual world with three boys who seemed to know everything about magic while she knew nothing.

"You may call me Tom." It said. That was a rather unusual name for a creature, Hermione thought. It was such a muggle name. But then, no muggles had red eyes like this thing did. "What are you called?"

"My name is Hermione." She responded to him - it was a him wasn't it, if it went by Tom, she supposed.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Hermione." His voice was unsettling at first, but it quickly became almost soothing, a warm caress to her ears. "What are you doing with that stick?"

Hermione looked down at her trusty wand, the warm wood a constant in her life since the age of five. At first it had seemed clumsy and large, but soon she had grown into it, and now it seemed to fit her perfectly, almost as if it were an extension of her arm itself. "It's my wand. It's what I use to perform magic." To prove it, she conjured a wreath of autumn flowers.

Tom was silent for a moment. "I can do magic without a wand." He finally said, breaking the stillness of the clearing. Hermione watched in awe as her autumnal flowers transformed into a holly wreath, topped with little red berries. He must be some kind of magical being, she thought, if he was able to do his own magic. Perhaps he was some kind of house elf type creature, as they were able to perform tasks on their own. "I could teach you how to do it too."

Hermione was perplexed. She hadn't heard of any witch or wizard performing magic without a wand, but she clearly had time being alone with herself. She pocketed her wand and hoped that she wasn't making a terrible mistake. "Okay."

* * *

It had taken weeks, but Hermione was finally able to perform some magic without a wand. Basic things, really, but it was becoming easier and easier. A lot of the needed visualization and meditation techniques were similar to those used in animagus transformation, so she'd already had a bit of a leg up on the practice.

Tom was a rather brilliant teacher, although she still hadn't seen his face. Rather, just his glowing red eyes on the edge of the clearing. He was thoughtful, too. On the days when it snowed, he created a little bubble charm to keep the flakes from falling onto her face and to keep the ground from getting wet.

He was well versed in magical theory and often referenced books that she hadn't even heard of before. In fact, she'd ordered three new books just this month to read.

She wondered what he looked like, but was unable to pinpoint a final image in her mind's eye. The hissing quality of his voice made her think perhaps he had scales like a Gorgon. But then the unusual high pitched register of his voice made her think that he was still a child, perhaps a child with the body of a Gryffin or some other fantastic beast. But he never ventured further than the thicket at the edge of her clearing.

Hermione also wondered where he might have come from. She'd spent many hours in this forest and she felt like she knew it inside and out. And even if she didn't, Regulus certainly spent enough time in its coverage that he would have mentioned an unusual creature that had newly appeared. She figured there was nothing left to do but ask him.

One afternoon, when she was practicing conjuring little bluebell flames in her open palm wandlessly, she asked him. "Tom, where did you come from?"

The clearing was so silent, she briefly worried that she scared him off again, but when she looked up she saw the pair of red eyes staring at her. "I was created by my creator, but he abandoned me here."

Hermione pursed her lips together. That was unusual. Perhaps a wizard had been experimenting with creating hybrid creatures. "Why would he do that?"

"I do not know. I was so happy to see my creator, but once I learned to walk again and tried to speak, he left me, kicked me out and made me fend for myself in this awful place." Tom told her, a distinct bitterness in his voice. "He had a wand like you did."

Definitely a wizard then, Hermione thought to herself. It was very curious. "It almost sounds as if you are Adam, thrust forth from the Garden of Eden into the suffering of humanity." She said with a sad smile on her face. She felt somewhat similar to him, as she'd been abandoned by Severus and Sirius and Regulus. It seemed as though no one wanted to spend time with her.

"You've read the Bible?" He asked her, surprised. Not many witches or wizards were familiar.

"It's just a vestige of my youth." She told him, with that sad far away look in her eyes.

* * *

"I did it!" Hermione said proudly, as she watched her patronus charm dance around the clearing, a little otter swimming to and fro. Though she'd mastered the charm several years ago under Professor Dumbledore's tutelage, she'd only just performed it wandlessly. It was quite a feat and she felt rather drained after all the effort that went into it.

"Excellent work. Even I am unable to perform a patronus charm." Tom revealed to her sadly from the edge of the clearing. If she heard him, she didn't acknowledge it, too giddy with accomplishment to care. He didn't have a happy enough memory to use to create the charm in the first place, though, he supposed it could be due to his fragmented soul. Hermione was giggling with flushed cheeks as she chased the otter like a child.

It made his heart warm and his chest tightem to watch her. She was rather sweet.

The otter then darted towards him, rustling his leaves. Tom quickly pulled back from the clearing, not wanting to reveal himself to her. "To-om!" She heard Hermione whine. "Please won't you come into the clearing? I know that you are shy, but I am your friend, aren't I?"

Tom sighed and considered her words. He was so lonely for most of his time, the only reprieve being when she spent time in their little clearing. She had shared with him her rather liberal views on magical creatures. And she was certainly not his creator. Still he was frightened of what her reaction might be. "Yes, you are my only friend." He finally told her.

"So come and sit with me then. I long to know what you look like." She told him with a small voice.

Hermione watched in surprise and curiosity as he stood from where he normally sat. His red eyes seemed to double in height in an instant and she realized that he was much taller than she had ever imagined. She'd always thought that Tom was a child, but she'd obviously calculated wrong.

Then he stepped into the clearing. Hermione scrambled to her feet. He was horrifying to look at. Tom towered nearly two feet taller than her, and was pale like death was upon him. His skin looked waxy and cold, as though no blood was running in his veins. He was as naked as a newborn child and his muscles could be seen rippling under the skin, grotesquely. And on his nearly human face, he had only slits for nostrils and no nose, giving him a serpentine look. His glowing red eyes, which had grown to be a comfort in the past weeks, were now unsettling.

Hermione couldn't help the scream that bubbled up from her throat. She was panicking at the monster in front of her. She desperately ripped her wand from the pocket and trained it on the man in front of her.

"Hermione." He called her named pleadingly, and she was able to see the hurt on his features. The hiss of his voice was wholly unnatural again, and Hermione felt fear nearly paralyzing her body.

"Please leave me alone." She said, backing away from the clearing. When he took a step towards her, arm outstretched, she sent a stinging hex his way. She watched the hurt wash over his face. It was horrible to look at. She couldn't decide which was more painful to behold: the pain or the countenance.

Tears in her eyes, she turned and ran back to the castle, not looking back.

Later, when she was in her bed with the doors and window heavily warded, she thought about the interaction. He had said she was his only friend. It made her heart clench in sadness and guilt, but she couldn't shake the immense form that his form had inspired or the worry that he might somehow find her in her bed. It had been one thing to imagine him as a scared little boy, but to see him as a beast of a man, left her dreams haunted by red eyes and a serpentine face.

She wouldn't return to the clearing.

* * *

Ever since he'd left Hogwarts, Severus had been filled with shame, though it's cause vacillated in origin. Some days he felt disgust at creating such a hideous monster, releasing it on to this Earth to wreak havoc. Other days he was ashamed that he wasn't able to kill it like he should have. Instead he'd turned tail and ran away. He wasn't brave or bold enough to deal with the consequences of his actions. Still, on other days he was filled with disgust that he'd left Hermione and Regulus alone to deal with the beast. Were they okay? Were they alive? He shuddered at the thought.

Lucius had welcomed him with open arms, not questioning the sudden appearance of his stricken friend, dripping with rain water and frightened out of his mind. Severus had come down with pneumonia nearly right away and it had taken him two weeks just for the haze of fever to leave him. Lucius sat with his friend for a little while each day, listening to his ramblings on red eyes, monsters and snakes in his fever dreams

When he was finally healed, it took another week for Severus to explain why he was actually there. Lucius had watched in wonder has Severus described his actions from Halloween night, in exquisite detail. The roiling black of the cauldron, the creature that had emerged. Severus was clearly nearing insanity over the guilt of his actions, but Lucius was amazed.

"Don't you realize what this means old friend?" Lucius had whispered in his ear. "You've cheated death. You are death's master."

It was one thing to hear Lucius's excited tone and be filled with pride over what he'd accomplished. But then Severus would remember the dark magic that filled the diary and he'd remember those red eyes staring back at him. It was enough to send him into a spiral of disgust.

Still, time away from Hogwarts quickly tempered the memory and the fear. Lucius's young wife, Narcissa, was a delight to be around. She was a very beautiful woman, but she was cold and rigid as ice. She was everything a man like Lucius would want in a wife, and she never once complained about having to entertain her new husband's friend so soon after they'd been married.

Seeing how enamored the couple was with one another made him think fondly of Hermione. How was it possible that he'd left her at Hogwarts? Left her sweet kisses and caresses? Left her mind to dull in the company (or lack thereof) of Regulus?

To ease the ache, he would tell Narcissa about Hermione's beauty and brilliant mind. Narcissa played along with his ramblings until one day she asked her name and upon hearing the girl's family name, sniffed as though she smelled something horrid. "Granger? That's not an old name is it?"

Lucius just smiled and patted Severus on the shoulder. "Yes, well, Severus has always had a penchant for mudbloods, haven't you? And the smart ones too."

Hearing his friend talk about Hermione in that way was like a rock in his stomach. He wanted to say something, to tell Lucius that Hermione was more magical than him and Narcissa combined, but instead he kept silent, letting his silence speak for him.

"At least the other one was quite beautiful." Lucius soldiered on. "Did I tell you that Evans girl - well, Potter now - just whelped a brat?"

Hearing about Lily did little to ease his discomfort, though he rarely thought of the redheaded girl anymore. Instead he just grunted. "I am not surprised, the way her and Potter were all over one another in the square, out in public." Severus didn't want to think any more about rutting in this house, as he had to listen to a rhythmic pounding on the wall each night as Lucius took his marital privileges night after night.

Narcissa had been caressing her flat stomach day after day, saying to everyone who'd listen just how eager she was to produce the next Malfoy heir. She was insistent that she was already with child, but until recently it hadn't been confirmed.

Now, though, it was time for Severus to return to Hogwarts. He couldn't - nor did he desire - to impose on his friend any more. He couldn't be around their perfect life with nary a thought to the monster he'd created. So, he saddled up his horse and left, thanking his friend, beginning the long journey back to Scotland.

* * *

Severus did not leave London with the same urgency that he'd left Scotland, and it had its benefits and its disadvantages. For one, he was welcome to sleep in inns along the way, and rest on days when the weather was poor, saving his health and weak lungs. However, it took much longer to complete without the dogs of hell at his heels and he was quite saddle sore when he returned.

Still, he when he saw the spires of Hogwarts, he was eager to return and urged his horse on faster. When he made it to the great front doors, he was shocked at the scene he returned too.

Hermione was standing alone sobbing. His heart ached to see her great salty tears and red face. She was wearing a white nightgown, as if she didn't have any time to change. She was speaking to a police officer and pointing behind her again and again, although he couldn't make out what she was saying.

Hopping off the horse, he ran to where the pair was standing. "Hermione? What's happened?"

Hermione, seeing him, had relief wash over her face. "Oh Severus, thank Merlin you are here." She hugged him to her and he felt her wet tears as they were absorbed by his coat. He tried not to react to the feel of her nipples, pebbled by the cold, pressing against him just so.

Finally, he looked behind her and saw what was wrong.

"It's Regulus, Severus. He's dead." She whispered, clearing distraught. His friend, his brother was lying at an awkward angle a little ways off. His neck, it appeared, had been snapped savagely. Much closer was the old house elf, Kreacher, imprisoned in some magical rope. "I think it was Kreacher, Severus. He had Regulus's locket." Hermione whispered.

It was true. When Hermione had awoken and went to the Great Hall for breakfast, Kreacher had been standing, staring at the floor, talking to himself and clutching Regulus's locket in his greedy mitts.

Hermione turned to look at the auror. "Regulus hasn't taken that damned locket off in over a year. He never would have parted with it." She explained. "Willingly."

Severus was inclined to agree with Hermione, and told him just that.

But then he saw those glowing red eyes at the edge of the forest. When he first saw them, he was so shocked he did a double take. It wasn't possible was it? Still, there, just barely out of sight was the monster he'd created, a smirk on his lips, grotesque like grave worms.

Severus knew then, feeling a darkness settle over his heart. It had done this to hurt him, to destroy his family. It had never left the Forbidden Forest at all, instead watching, waiting for Severus to come back so that it might stick a knife in. But that the same time, he knew he could never say anything about it. That would mean revealing not only his failure, but that he'd attempted such dark magic in the first place.

And this creature was what he had to show for it.

Instead, Severus remained silent, ushering Hermione inside the castle once the auror had levitated Kreacher away, giving Severus the locket. "Come, my love, let's get you a tonic so that you can calm down."

* * *

After settling Hermione by the fireplace in a big bundle of blankets, she had finally stopped crying. When they first entered the castle, she was overcome with great hiccoughing sobs. Severus didn't know what to do other than to slip a calming draught into her tea.

She looked glorious, like a queen on her throne. Her pink skin was glowing in the firelight, and the tears in her eyes had made her eyes glisten like gold. Severus tried not to look at the breasts hidden by her nightgown, which was made translucent in the fire's light. She was just like Sleeping Beauty, he thought, more glorious than he could ever have imagined.

Hermione had been nervous since Severus had come home. She wanted to tell him about the monster that she had spurned in the clearing, but she didn't want to admit to being so naive of the world. What would be think of her? Would he leave her? If there was one thing she loathed it was the thought that she might be left alone again. "Severus?" She asked him timidly. "Oh, please, won't you hold me?"

Severus smiled at her - that smile that transformed his usually dour face - and sat next to her, hauling her up into his lap. "Of course I will, you silly girl."

Hermione pulled at the blankets, so that they rested across Severus as well. She pushed her face into his neck, so that she might be completely surrounded by him. She felt marginally more safe, wrapped tightly in this cocoon. "I don't want to be alone Severus, please don't leave me."

She felt his fingers thread through her curly hair. "I won't leave you." He held her tighter, breathing in the scent of her.

"Oh, I am so afraid Severus. I'm afraid for my life." She whispered, wrapping her arms around him. She was afraid that the monster would come and get her now that Regulus was gone. He might not know that Severus was back now, and would think her all alone and ripe for the picking.

Severus swallowed, trying to tamp down the guilt that rose up like bile in his throat. "Don't worry, my love, Kreacher is gone and he won't hurt you. I will keep you safe." How could he keep her safe when he left her alone here to fend for herself? Still, he would try his best. "Say, why don't I keep you company...forever. I would always protect you, keep you safe. I could love you."

Hermione pulled away to look at him. "Severus?" She asked confused at first. Surely he couldn't mean what she thought he was asking? Severus couldn't possibly be asking her to marry him.

Severus gathered all of his courage to ask her again, more clearly. She was so innocent, he hoped that his advances weren't unwanted. "I could be your husband, Hermione."

The huge smile that appeared on her face was his reward. "Oh, why of course I'll marry you, Severus. That is, if you'll have me." Unwilling to wait for his answer, she pushed her lips against his, in a tender embrace. She brought her hands up to his face and caressed the cheek bones she found there. Severus sighed into her embrace. How was it possible that a woman so pure and beautiful was able to love him? She would purify all of the wrongs that he had done and he would be a better person for it.

He brought one of his own hands up to tangle into her wild curls, tilting her head so that he might kiss her more deeply. The feel of her timid tongue tentatively brushing against his own had him shuddering in want. His other hand wrapped around her body was able to caress the side of her breast. How he longed to have her naked before him, but he would not dishonor her in that way. She was to be his wife, not merely his lover. Still he felt his cock hardening and straining at his britches, thinking about it.

Hermione obviously felt it as well, as she seemed to flinch the first time her leg brushed against it. "Oh Severus!" She squeaked in surprise, before moving to push her mouth more firmly against his.

He felt her small hand fumbling with his pants, trying to grasp the hardness she found there. Unable to control himself, he began thrusting back against her. "No, Hermione, please don't." He took her hand in his. "You deserve more than this."

Hermione wrenched her hand free. "I don't care." Her hand returned to his crotch and began stroking him once more. She buried her head in the crook of his neck. "Oh, touch me please, Severus. I don't know what to feel." Her own hips had begun gyrating against his lap, searching for some sensation. Her mind was dizzy with emotion.

How could he say no to her? Instead, he ran his hand up her leg, feeling the silky smoothness of her inner thigh. When his searching fingers finally met their target, he shuddered at the feel of wet cotton. And the heat of her! It was too sweet. He began to rub rhythmically in time with her own ministrations.

When she first felt his fingers, she was knocked a bit off course by the unexpected feeling of it. But, she quickly recovered, and they sat there together, awash in sensation until they both tumbled into the ocean of orgasm together.

Hermione lay there for a while, dazed. She'd never experienced anything of the sort before, but it had felt wonderful and she wanted to do it again. Luckily, with Severus as her husband, she was certain to oblige her.

He looked at her with pink cheeks, having recovered more quickly. He didn't apologize, but he was clearly embarrassed by how undone he'd become by her touch. Instead, he stood and offered her an outstretched hand. "Come, you should get to sleep. Tomorrow morning, we can go and find Sirius, to get his blessing."

Hermione nodded and allowed him to take her to her room and tuck her into her bed. When he left her alone, she thought about all of the things that had happened to her today. Regulus had died, but she'd been so overcome with emotion that she hadn't properly mourned him yet. And she should knowing that she was the cause. Who else, but she?

It was, after all, no coincidence that the day after she'd rebuked Tom that Regulus had shown up with his neck broken. She knew then that she was the cause of Regulus's death. Oh why had she allowed her own shallow thoughts push all of the good times they'd spent together to overcome her?

Still, now she knew that Tom's outward appearance was the true mask of the monster that he was. How could he have killed innocent Regulus? Sure, Regulus and she had never been terribly close, but he was still her brother after all these years and she'd loved him thusly. She knew Tom just wanted to hurt her. Who could have created sure a hideous creature?

Comforted by the fact that Severus was here in the castle, Hermione allowed herself to drift off to sleep.

* * *

Once he was assured that Hermione was asleep, Severus stalked out into the forest alone. He knew that it was out there, somewhere, waiting for him. He crept along in silence until he came across a little clearing. The clearing was extremely still, not a sound escaping from a single animal. He knew that it must be here.

"Come out!" Severus demanded. "I know that you are here, Creature!"

The creature stepped out of a particularly dense thicket. It had clothed itself in loose fitting rags, which preserved its modesty, but you could still see wide expanses of its pale white skin, exposed to the elements. How had it been surviving out here in this cold in the forest? "I am called Lord Voldemort."

"I refuse to call you that name, you vile beast!" Severus told him. This thing had killed his brother and he wouldn't allow it to get away with its crimes. He forced himself to stare into the hollow red eyes and wouldn't look away from the serpentine visage no matter how much it roiled his stomach. "You killed my brother, so now, I must kill you."

The creature just laughed at him. "You will acknowledge me as Lord Voldemort. Kneel." The creature raised its hand to him, and Severus felt as though a great weight where upon him. His knees buckled under the weight, until they hit the frozen ground. How was it possible that this monster could perform magic wandlessly? How was it able to perform magic at all? Did the beast retain its magical powers even after death? "That's better."

"Why would you kill Regulus?" Severus asked bitterly of this Lord Voldemort.

"Why would you make me look like this?" Lord Voldemort countered. "Hideous, terrible to look upon. No one wants to be around me. Why would you do this to me?"

"I didn't know what you would become." Severus hissed. If he'd known his creation would be so disgusting, so vile, he never even would have tried.

" _Crucio_!" Lord Voldemort unleashed the curse on him so quickly, Severus didn't even have time to brace himself for the pain. His nerves were on fire and he could feel himself screaming, screaming so loudly that his throat ached with the effort. "I had to punish you for making me, for leaving me to die. What better way than to kill your brother? I needed to get your attention."

"Well you have it now." Severus told him from his knees, still straining against the spell holding him down. His voice sounded raw and he barely felt the energy to speak. Still, his guilt at creating such a monster had him continuing on. "What is it that you want?"

The monster walked back and forth, annoyed and trying to decide what to say. "I had a friend, even after you left." The monster finally revealed to him. He was genuinely surprised to hear it. "She was kind and intelligent and beautiful. We spent many days in one other's company. I always remembered your reaction so seeing me, so I remained on the periphery, afraid that I might scare her away."

The monster then growled, and inhuman growl. "But she was so trusting, so sweet that I thought she might be different from _you."_ Severus did feel one last ounce of empathy for the beast, when he was was sharing the story. After all, he'd been rejected on his appearance once before. "But she wasn't! You've made me so hideous that I am resigned to be alone forever. _Crucio!"_

The curse was longer this time, and Severus was helpless to hold in his screams. He felt as though a red hot poker were being thrust into his head.

"After she left, I went down to the stream to find out what I looked like finally. And I see now that you have made me hideous, unlovable. Before I died people often commented on how handsome I was. But now, I've been ruined." Voldemort was raging inside. When he created his horcruxes all those years ago, he hadn't imagined that this would be the consequence.

"I wish that I'd never brought you back." Severus spat as his feet. Voldemort barely restrained the urge to kick the man in the side.

"This is what you will do. You will make me a woman, someone just like me, so that I might not be resigned to this unfailing loneliness." Voldemort finally told him with a finality. Although he hated to admit the weakness, he couldn't bare to live alone. "If you do this to me, I will leave you and never bother you again."

Severus gasped for breath on the ground. He was already so horrified at creating one such dark and evil creature as the man that stood before him, he couldn't imagine making another. It filled him with dread. Still, it meant that this creature would leave him alone once and for all. And that would ensure Hermione's safety wouldn't it? If anything the creature had shown him how easy it was to kill Regulus. How easy it would be to kill Hermione, if he were given the chance.

Severus shuddered to think what Hermione might think about what he'd done. Would she ever forgive him of his mistakes?

Then Severus remembered. "I couldn't make another of you even if I wanted. Last time I had a book, a journal of yours given to me by Lucius Malfoy. It was destroyed in the process." Severus felt some relief wash over him, though it was only temporary.

The creature began to laugh. "Oh, Severus, that will not be a problem."

Severus's eyes snapped up to look at the Creature. There, in his hand, was Regulus's gauche locket, dangling by it's gleaming silver chain. "I really should thank your brother for keeping such good care of this for me."

"That?" Severus asked, unable to complete the thought process behind it.

"Yes, this is mine as well, a tiny fraction of my soul." Voldemort told him with a smirk, his lips peeled back to reveal yellowing teeth that would haunt his dreams as fangs. "Horcruxes are so useful to have around."

Severus had never even heard of a horcrux before, but the way the word had rolled over Voldemort's tongue had him shivering in fear. It was obviously a dark object, he'd known that for years of holding onto that blasted diary! "How did you get that?"

"As if the auror's protections on it did anything to stop me." The creature was gleeful. "You will find, Severus, that I am very good at getting what I want."

"Now, in the cemetery, you will find a grave marked Bellatrix Lestrange. You will perform the ritual on her, as you did me, and I will leave you alone. Perhaps we will go to the Continent, disappear into the forests of Albania. The important thing is that I will swear to you on my magic to leave you alone."

"And if I refuse?" Severus dared to ask.

"I will kill you and everyone you hold dear." The creature told him bluntly. "But not before I torture you. _Crucio!"_ Severus cried out again, unable to hold back the tears from his eyes this time. He didn't think he'd ever bared this much of himself to anyone else.

"Fine." He finally bit out. "I agree. I will do this for you, but I do have one condition." Severus told him.

"Proceed." Voldemort assessed him cooly. This wizard was really trying his patience. If he wasn't so useful, he would already be dead by now.

"I am recently affianced and I need to retrieve the blessing of my intended's brother. It might take him to locate him." Severus explained. "I will do this for you, but only once I return."

Voldemort stared at him for a while. He could wait a while longer. After all, he'd been alone all of these months. He was patient. "That is agreeable to me." Voldemort finally spat out.

Severus struggled to stand, feeling the invisible hand holding him down finally loosen it's grip on him. "Now leave, get out of my sight before I decide to kill you."

He didn't need to be told twice and began the slow trek back to Hogwarts. His every muscle fiber was aching, but he was alive and he had Hermione. It would take time, but he was sure that with her purifying embrace, this would soon just be a fading, horrid nightmare.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Frankenstein.

A/N: Here is the final chapter of Frankenstein. I hope you enjoy it and your Halloween weekend.

I am not terribly happy with the way this ended. I don't feel like I really captured the essence of the Frankenstein story, so I might take this down...perhaps repost it again next autumn with a little more massaging. I don't feel like I've done justice to the complex emotions that Voldemort/The Monster possesses. We'll see.

Thanks to my reviewers from last chapter: Pwrmom2 and SereniteRose.

 **Warning: Character Death.** I don't know if you know the story of Frankenstein, but basically everyone dies.

* * *

Hermione and Severus sat in the coach on the way home from their meeting with Sirius. It had been unexpected, to hear that the girl you thought of as your baby sister was going to marry a man that had been your brother for several years, but that you hadn't heard from in just as long. They were an unnatural pair, but a pairing none the less, that had worked well together through the years and Hermione had been devastated when Severus left. And Severus seemed smitten with her now.

Sirius had accepted with a promise to attend the wedding in a few weeks time.

Severus was quick to request Hermione's assistance again with the preparation of the potion ingredients and she readily accepted. She had told him that she was sorry to hear that his most promising attempt had been dashed by Lucius's missive. Hermione remarked that Lucius didn't seem to be a very good friend. Sometimes Severus wondered if he was his friend, after giving him that damned journal.

Still, he told her that Lucius had always been kind to him while under the tutelage of Master Slughorn. Hermione accepted it grudgingly.

She was excited to get started with him in the preparing, as they always worked well together, two cogs in a machine, tirelessly plodding on. Hermione was precise and meticulous and full of excitement at the prospect of helping Severus come up with such a useful antidote. His heart ached when he thought about what he was actually having her help him with.

Hermione had asked him if she might attend the next testing, but he had quickly reminded her of the fact that he was testing it on animals. "Still, you said last time was so promising. I am sure I could stomach it, if I knew that the animal was going to come out alright." She argued with a sunny smile on her face.

Severus just shook his head. "It's difficult Hermione. Sometimes it seems promising and then the results are horrific. I have to sometimes kill them to put the poor animals out of their suffering. It's hard even for me to see."

Hermione wouldn't be cowed by the idea that Severus was somehow stronger than she was and she told him thusly.

He silenced her with a kiss on her rosebud lips. "I promise that once I am successful, you will be the first person I replicate the experiment with." That had quieted her complaints.

* * *

Severus had many nightmares since agreeing to the monster's demands. He would wake up in his chambers, flushed and covered in sweat, his heart racing and unable to be calmed. In some dreams, the monster would step in at the wedding and marry Hermione; she didn't seem bothered by his appearance. She would look so small in the creature's embrace, but she wouldn't face him.

In others, he created the bride as had been asked, but the creature would go back on its word and begin killing everyone, Hermione, Sirius, Lucius, Lily and her husband. Everyone who'd ever come into contact with Severus, but never Severus himself, leaving him alone and guilt ridden.

Again, still, there were dreams of the creature's woman, Bellatrix. Her skin would be green and her hair wild, but eyes even wilder. He could practically hear her cackling laughter and see her gnashing dirty teeth. That was the one that haunted him most frequently. As he'd gotten closer and closer to completing the preparation of the ingredients, it came more and more frequently.

He'd planned to go out to the grave to retrieve the woman's bones that evening, but he'd lost his nerve and instead spent the evening in Hermione's embrace. She was so full of life that it was easy to bury his fears in the light she radiated. Not that he'd ever tell her what he'd planned. He couldn't imagine the disgust she would hold for him.

Still, he needed to go tonight. He recognized that the creature had been generous in giving him time to contact Sirius. Plus, tonight it was a new moon, which would give him the cover of darkness, and allow him to work undetected.

After dinner, he walked Hermione to her room and kissed her goodnight. The kiss was rather passionate, if only because he felt that it seemed like it could be there last kiss. He sat in the library for an hour after, staring into the flames, drinking a brandy. The flavor did nothing to stave off the dread seeping into his soul.

Finally, when he was certain he could put it off no longer, he trudged off to the little cemetery again. He found Dumbledore's grave first and stared at the fresh headstone. Could the old man have imagined the fate Severus had chosen for himself when he was first brought to Hogwarts? Surely he wouldn't have encouraged Severus's potions studies if he had known the fate of his student.

Regulus's grave was even fresher, but he could barely glance at it because of the guilt. He would give his first son the name Regulus in honor.

Using his wand, Severus wandered among the graves until he found the one marked Bellatrix Lestrange. With a sigh, he pulled out his shovel and dug into the dirt. The ground was frozen this time and it made his work much more difficult. It was more than a foot before he got to soft ground, but it was still slow going.

He heard the sound of steps approaching, and fearful that he might be seen as a grave robber, he quickly procured his wand. "Who goes there?" He demanded, trying to sound confident and unafraid.

Then his creature stepped into the bright white light of his wand. It made the creature's corpse like skin seem even more unnatural and the feral grin on his face made Severus shiver in fear. The pain he'd endured at the creature's hands last time had lasted for weeks. His muscles had been sore and cramped frequently in the night and he'd had occasional tremors. He'd been lucky enough that Hermione hadn't noticed anything.

"What are you doing here?" Severus asked, annoyed to be disturbed in his task.

"Just ensuring that you are using the correct body." The creature responded, his voice reedy and eager. He came to stand by the grave and placed his hand on the marker. His long fingers wrapped around the stone and his eyes closed in apparent relief.

Severus didn't want to think about what he was imagining. "Who was she anyway?"

"My most loyal follower." The creature told him, a pleased look on his face to recall the memories. "She would do anything for me. Kill for me, die for me. She would willingly give herself to me without a care as to what her husband thought." The creature sighed. "Truthfully, he wouldn't have minded either - he was just as zealous. But at the time, I had not patience for the pleasures of the flesh."

Severus didn't want to think about the creature trying to have sex with anyone now. Although he had visibly seen that the creature had anatomy to perform the act, he wasn't sure the success or the method that creature would have with the physical act of making love. Though, could a creature as odious as his own make love?

Shaking his head to clear the thoughts from it, Severus addressed the creature again. "Well, as you can see, I've managed to find her on my own. I don't need you to oversee my progress." He snarked at the creature, not wanting to spend any more time in it's presence than necessary.

"I think you will need this, as well, won't you?" The creature held the locket in his hand.

Yes, Severus supposed, he would need that too. Perhaps there was a way that he might destroy the thing before he completed the potion? Render it useless? He was positive that the horcrux was in a manner of speaking a living thing. But then he remembered the creature's word. It had made seven of them.

Severus reached out his hand to receive the metal. He could feel the dark magic roiling off of it immediately, and hear its whispers and promises even though he placed it into his pocket. "How did you get it?"

"I think you will find that I am quite good at getting what I want." The creature gave him that odious smile, revealing all of its pointed teeth, a look of pure glee on his face for getting what he wanted.

Severus frowned. How could he allow himself to be plagued by this thing? He should just try to kill it now. He knew the spell, and had exacted it on countless rabbits and squirrels. But then he looked back at the creature and knew that it was just human enough, and he was just weak enough, so as not to be able to carry out his plans. "Well, you've gotten what you came for. Now please leave. I prefer to work in solitude."

"Is that so?" The creature asked, innocently enough, but the feral gleam in his eyes was just enough hint at the creature's knowledge of Hermione to send fear into the pit of his belly. Poor, sweet Hermione. What had he gotten his love into? He would do everything in his power to protect her. "Fine, I will leave you. But I feel I must leave you with a promise of what's to come if you should fail. _Crucio!"_

Fuck, Severus had thought he would be used to the onslaught of magic by now, the feel of his muscles in tension all at once, pulling against each other in a battle of dominance. The way the curse would move through his organs like hot electricity, search for an outlet. He thought that he could handle it without screaming, but still he heard his voice crying out, just short of begging.

When the pain stopped, the creature was long gone. Severus heaved himself up and stared at the shovel. It was almost too much for him to pick up the shovel and begin digging again, but dawn was approaching and he needed to return to the castle before Hermione awoke.

* * *

The following day had been sweet torture. Hermione and Severus had taken a long walk through the grounds of Hogwarts, looking for fresh holly for their wedding, which was to take place during the winter solstice. The crisp cold air had made Hermione's cheeks pink and her eyes sparkle and she'd laughed with him.

He tried not to be morose, but he couldn't stop from remembering the body down in his personal lab. Still, Hermione's happiness was enough to push him to complete his task so that he could be free of the monster that he'd created.

After spending an enjoyable evening in front of the fire, Severus again walked Hermione to her room to put her to bed, promising, with lust in his voice, that they would be sharing a room in just a few short days. He warded her room, and prayed that she wouldn't notice the feel of his magic, or that she would just write it off as his love for her.

Severus then went down to his private lab to retrieve the necessary ingredients, and brought them outside, to the clearing in the Forbidden Forest where he'd met the monster once before. He had thought about completing the potion inside, but he was too afraid that something might go wrong and put Hermione in danger. This was safer.

Once outside, he set up the large cauldron once again, with the large fire beneath it, it's flames licking up the sides. He worked slowly, but diligently over the heat, adding ingredients to the simmering liquid, watching it go through all of the same transformations as before.

His stomach was roiling, remembering all of the premonitions and dreams he'd had about this before. He thought of the green skinned woman that his brain had conjured, her hideousness. How could he, in good conscience, unleash such a beast onto the world? Then he would remember the sweet smile on Hermione's face when she snuggled up next to him by the fire place. Or the way that she'd come undone so sweetly the day of Regulus's death. Her soft moans echoed in his ears, pushing him on towards his goal.

Shaking his head, he realized that it was actually the locket, singing it's sweet seductive whispers in his ears. He was horrified to realize that the blasted thing had taken his memories of Hermione and was using them to manipulate him. "Severussss." He heard it croon desperately in his ear with Hermione's voice. He shuddered, but was unable to determine if it was in lust or in disgust.

Steeling himself, he began putting the woman's bones into the liquid. She had not gone through the same decay that Tom Riddle had, and some flesh still clung to the bones, grey and fragile. He could barely bring himself to touch it, but he did begin depositing bone after bone. Taking a moment, he looked at the skull, which still contained one shriveled eye, with a dark, maddeningly dark, iris. Shuddering in disgust, he tossed that into the liquid as well and watched it slowly disintegrate.

When he looked up again, he saw the red eyes of his monster on the periphery of the clearing, with unmasked glee in their depths. It wasn't looking at Severus at all, instead it was staring at the cauldron boiling away.

Severus shivered, trying to remove the thoughts of the monster with his woman. But the fear the picture struck was too much to shake. How could he do this? He thought of the creature and a woman of similar appearance entangled together in their passion. What if they were to breed? How long would it be before Scotland was overrun with their kind? And if it spread to the continent?

He thought of the dark curses that this creature knew. Undoubtedly, his bride would quickly learn. The monster didn't even need its wand to inflict terrible pain on another. Wizards would have no chance to defend themselves. He remembered the cackling laughter of the woman monster from his dreams, all of his hair standing on end.

No! He couldn't allow this to come to fruition! He wouldn't be responsible for the plague that this monster was sure to be on wizards the world over. Severus raised his wand, and saying the spell, smiled in a hollow satisfaction as he watched the liquid spill into the ground, only to be soaked up by the thirsty Earth.

"No!" The creature called, bursting forth from the foliage that surrounded the clearing. It grabbed the cauldron by its sides and righted it, bringing his hands to the still boiling liquid and tried to put it back in the cauldron along with dirt that that gotten mixed in. Severus watched in horror as the creature's hands and forearms blistered, red and weeping, from the scalding liquid, though it didn't seem to notice that pain.

In the meantime, Severus through the locket to the ground and began trying every spell he could think to destroy the locket. "Diffindo! Avada Kedavra!" He tried desperately again and again, but the locket did nothing but shriek in mild annoyance.

The creature stared at him, before letting out a low howl that made Severus recoil at the sound. "Fix it, now! Put her back!" The creature demanded.

"It's too late now. Her skeleton has been destroyed." Severus said with mild satisfaction, proud of what he'd accomplished for once in his life.

The creature stood, drawing itself to its full height. "Why would you do this?" It demanded, towering over Severus.

"It was the right thing today. I couldn't unleash another one of _you_ onto the Earth. What if you'd mated?" Severus responded, not bothering to hide the disgust in his voice at the prospect.

The anger that washed over the creature's face was clear. It grabbed Severus by the shirt, before throwing him to the ground. " _Crucio!"_ It called, watching in disinterest as Severus writhed on the forest floor, unable to stop the screams coming from his throat. "You knew this would happen, Severus, if you didn't make good on your promise."

The torture continued for what seemed like hours, and only once Severus's throat was too raw to scream any longer did the cursing end. The monster looked at him, completely apathetic to another human's pain and suffering and torment. He truly was a monster. "You knew and you still did this to me. Now, I will make good on my promise, Severus. I will let you have a little bit of time with your fiancee, so enjoy her now while you can."

Severus scrambled back, horrified by the creature's words.

Seeing the painful realization flash across his creator's face, the monster smiled in glee. "Yes, I will be with you on your wedding night. And that's a promise that I intend to keep." Without so much as a second glance backwards, the monster left the clearing leaving Severus shaking on the ground.

What had he done?

* * *

Severus had heeded the creature's advice and spent an inordinate amount of time in the week leading up to their wedding. The first day he'd spent in bed still recovering from his bouts with the Cruciatus curse, feigning fever. Hermione had made a lovely nursemaid for him, feeding him steaming hot broth and reading to him nearly the whole day. And when she plumped his pillows for him, she gave him a very nice view down the front of her dress, though he wasn't about to tell her that.

The next day, they'd walked down into the village, sure to stay far away from the Forbidden Forest. When Hermione questioned him on why he didn't wish to take the shortcut through the trees, he told her that he didn't feel right walking through the forest, knowing that Regulus had spent so much time there. He wasn't ready yet to face it again. She seemed to agree with his reasoning.

He enjoyed following her closely, watching her eyes and fingers trace over books at the book shops and over the herbs in the apothecary. She seemed to be so content, and he would do anything to keep things that way for her. When she would catch him staring at her, she would just look back at him with a shy smile.

The following day he'd received a hastily written missive from Narcissa Malfoy, telling him that Lucius had been found dead. She'd written that the healer hadn't been able to determine the cause of his death, but that she suspected the Killing Curse. She couldn't possibly think of who would want to kill Lucius, but that she was at least definitely pregnant with Lucius's heir, so she would be well taken care of. Severus nearly snorted at that.

Lucius's death had sent fear in his heart. It seemed impossible that the monster inhabiting the Forbidden Forest could have gotten to London so quickly, but then it seemed impossible that he could perform such power magic without a wand. Or perhaps he'd already killed Lucius before Severus had ruined the potion to bring Bellatrix back. Severus supposed the monster could have been mad at Lucius for giving Severus the diary that he was meant to safeguard. Still, that act was what had brought the monster back.

Hermione didn't say anything that night when Severus held her tightly against him on their little settee in the library, assuming that it was coming from his sadness at losing a close friend.

Sirius had arrived the next day. He swept in all dark curls and charm and had Hermione laughing and giggling again. They had spent the evening drinking warm mead and laughing over his exploits while he was away. Although he spent most of his days alone in meditation, that hadn't meant that he'd shied away from the women in the nearby village.

Hermione was also pleased to see Sirius's animagus form, a giant black dog that looked vicious, but was really sweet. Severus looked away in disgust when Sirius allowed Hermione to rub his belly, and his leg kicked uncontrollably. He was the only man that Hermione should be having her hands on, he thought darkly.

When it was time for bed, Sirius had insisted on walking Hermione to her rooms, which Severus permitted, seeing as Sirius was her closest remaining relative. He was not blind to the fact that Sirius did not entirely trust him, and that he did not understand Hermione's love for him. But he could sleep easy that night, knowing that in the morning he would be forever linked with her.

The day of his wedding, Severus was annoyed to find out that Hermione would spend most of her day preparing for the ceremony, whatever that meant, and that he would not see her until sunset, when they had scheduled the hand fasting to take place.

Sirius had attempted to keep him company, but he just shooed him away and spent time in his private laboratory instead. He pored over his notes from all of his tests of the potion he used to create the monster. Reading it back now, it was plain to him that he was doomed to failure from the beginning. How could have gotten such results and continued to press on? All of the tests on animals had been abysmal failures, and the animals deformations should have hinted to him that his own creation would be grotesque.

How was it possible that he thought he could bring back a perfectly formed human from the grave? Especially one that had been dead for so many years? How had he thought that he would outwit Death himself?

And now he was bringing Hermione into this awful mess. The creature had threatened his life, tonight of all nights. He might be resigning Hermione to widowhood, untouched. At least he could count on Sirius to take care of her, perhaps find her a smart match if he died. But Severus Snape had no intention of dying. He would destroy the creature once and for all, so that it wouldn't terrorize anyone again.

Hermione must be so blissfully unaware. It was no good to mention this to her ever again once the deed was done tonight. He could imagine her now, upstairs enjoying a bath in warm milk and honey, like the Queen that she was. She was probably taking her time, brushing through her spectacular curls. He could hardly wait to see her tonight, laid out on his bed, ripe for the taking. That they might spend the rest of their lives together was more than he deserved.

* * *

When Hermione stepped into the library that evening - she would not hear of having the ceremony in any other room in the castle - the yellow and pinks of the dying sunlight made her glow like an angel. She was wearing white dress robes of a quality he'd never seen before. In her wild curls were hundreds of tiny white flowers. Her cheeks were pink and her brown eyes smiled at him as shyly as her lips did. She looked more beautiful than he could have ever imagined. She truly did look like sleeping beauty, his little briar rose.

She came to stand next to him and took his large hand in her own small one. Her hand was so tiny in comparison to his own, it really drove home the situation for him. He would protect her and love her. She was innocent in all of this, and he intended to keep her that way. He would never allow anything to trouble her if it was in his power.

Sirius was the only other person in the room with them, as they had requested he be the one to perform the handfasting for them. He stood in cerulean blue robes, the fireplace behind him, with a look of tenderness for the pair of them. Although he didn't understand their relationship, it was something that made Hermione happy and he knew it was more than passing fancy.

He took out the piece of gold ribbon and tied it around their clasped hands. The pair of them made their vows to each other, locked in a Wizard's Oath, and then Sirius began the charms. As he waved his wand over their clasped hands, Severus felt their souls rubbing against each other in binding, before the ribbon shimmered and disappeared, transfigured into matching rings on their left hands.

Hermione recovered from the ceremony first and wrapped her arms around Severus's neck, pulling his lips to hers. She was as sweet as she looked, and he gave into temptation to briefly caress her tongue with his own, before Sirius cleared his throat. Severus couldn't even be embarrassed.

After the ceremony, the three of them retired to the dining room for a veritable feast. There was every kind of food that you could think of - steaming bowls of mashed potatoes, a large turkey, roasted carrots and green beans. It was more food than Severus had seen in a long time. Still, he couldn't enjoy it. Sure, he loved watching Hermione get a little butterbeer foam on her nose, but the thought of that creature lurking out there in the darkness made the food taste like ash in his mouth.

It wasn't long before Sirius recognized the tension in the other man. Hermione had left the dining room finally, saying that she would go freshen up before bed. She gave the pair of men a matching kiss on the cheek. Sirius smirked at Severus across the table, enjoying a little firewhiskey. "Are you nervous?"

Hearing the other man address him, had Severus pulled out of his dark thoughts. "Hmm?"

"Are you nervous about the consummation?" Sirius said, more obviously this time.

"Oh, I...I suppose a bit." Severus confessed. He was very much looking forward to the consummation of his wedding vows, but he had been so overwhelmed with thoughts of the monster in the forest that he hadn't had much time to worry about it.

"First time." Sirius said, no hint of smugness. "For the both of you. Just take your time and don't be afraid to do what feels good. Don't worry if there aren't fireworks the first time. You can learn together."

Severus was embarrassed discussing what was ostensibly Sirius's sister's sex life with Sirius, but he did appreciate the advice. Sure Lucius had often boasted about the act, but it was entirely different when it was your wife and you were actually in the moment.

"I thank you for the advice. Now, I am going to walk the wards quickly, we had a bit of an issue the other night. I haven't told Hermione, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't reveal it to her." Severus told him.

"Smart. I am glad that you will keep her safe." Sirius said, clapping the man on the shoulder.

"Yes, well, it would warm my heart if I knew that you were watching over while I was out on the grounds." Severus said, trying not to seem paranoid. Sirius didn't seem to mind, but instead finished his firewhiskey and shifted into his dog form. Then he trotted off in the direction of Hermione's room.

Severus retrieved his cloak and stepped out into the frigid air. He watched his breath fog the air in front of him as he walked quickly along the edge of the wards. His eyes kept darting to the forest as he tested the strength of the wards. Only once he was certain that they were holding strong and that the creature wouldn't be able to enter, did he return to the warmth of the castle.

He was glad that the wards of Hogwarts were centuries old, reinforced time and time again by the wizards who inhabited it. If it were just his personal wards, he might be concerned that the immense magical power that the creature obviously had would be enough to pull them down, especially should he be preoccupied with Hermione.

Hermione...Severus hastened his steps towards her chambers. He couldn't deny that a weight had been lifted from his heart and he was now able to appreciate the anticipation of his wedding night.

When he finally reached the door, he steeled himself, remembering Sirius's earlier words. Placing his hand on the doorknob, he opened the door and entered.

"Severus!" Hermione called out, distress evident in her voice. He looked up and found her in the arms of the monster. It's pale white arm was wrapped around her neck, his body pressed against her back. He could clearly see the tear tracks on her cheeks. "Sirius is-"

Before she could finish her sentence, the monster clamped his hand over her mouth silencing her. Sirius was lying in the corner motionless, having shifted back into a human. Severus reached for his wand, but the monster wordlessly and wandlessly disarmed him. He watched, helpless and shocked as his wand clattered to the ground in the corner.

"Severus, how wonderful of you to join us." The monster crooned. He looked over at Severus from Hermione's shoulder. "Hermione here was just keeping me company while we waited for you to return from your little walk." Severus cringed, watching Hermione struggle valiantly against the creature's grasp. Her brown eyes were wide and terrified.

"Let her go." Severus said, making a step towards the pair.

The monster only increased his grip on Hermione's neck. "Ah, ah, ah. Stay there or...well, you remember what happens."

Severus stopped his advances, fearful for Hermione's life. He needed to get her away from this fiend.

"I wonder...did Hermione ever tell you about our time together in the Forbidden Forest?" The monster asked. Suddenly, Severus felt a bolt of dread and doubt in his stomach. What could it be talking about? Surely Hermione and the creature weren't in cahoots.

The creature removed his hand from around Hermione's mouth and wrapped it around her waist instead. "Severus, please, I thought he was a child, or a magical being-" Hermione immediately said, confirming that she was aware of the creature's existence prior to this night.

Severus watched the creature's hand tighten around Hermione's neck. "Yes, Hermione spent weeks in the Forbidden Forest in my company, befriending me. And then, when she asked to see me, I was reluctant. But still, I thought this sweet, trusting Hermione would look past my exterior. But instead she ran away, frightened by my hideous appearance."

"I'm sorry, Tom. I didn't mean to run, but I was afraid." Hermione pleaded with the monster, close to hyperventilating. She just wanted to be left alone.

"And, Hermione, don't you wonder why I am here, why are talking to Severus?" The creature whispered in her ear. Severus couldn't bare to see its thin lips so close to Hermione's pale milk skin. He watched as Hermione stopped struggling, and her breathing calmed. "It's because Severus is the one who created me."

Severus watched as confusion washed over Hermione's face as she considered the monster's words. He could feel her examining every tell on his face for an explanation, indication, or hint of truth. When he made no move to contradict the monster's words, he watched as the disappointment became clear as day in her eyes.

"Severus?" She asked tentatively, scared. How was it possible that this was the man that she had married? That she had thought she'd loved? Surely, Severus wasn't so cruel as to create this and then try to kill it. Still, when she looked down at the cold white arm securely around her waist, she remembered the fear that she felt the first time she'd laid eyes on him.

"Yes, Hermione, I created this fiend…but, I didn't know it would come to be like this." He tried to explain, but it was futile. There was no way that Hermione could understand it.

"But you tried again? Knowing that…" She trailed off, unable to say what she was thinking. Knowing that he'd created something so horrific, so inhumane, so terrifying. And she'd played a passive role in this! She'd helped him prepare ingredients, suggested the blood sacrifice, and helped him do this thing. She felt the contents of her stomach moving in protest.

"Yes, he was going to make me a woman, someone who wouldn't run at the sight of me and might keep me company, but he destroyed her before she was even born again." The monster growled out in her ear.

Hermione shuddered, thinking of a female creature with the same characteristics as Tom. She wasn't sure if she should be glad, or upset at Severus. She struggled again to get loose from his grip.

Severus watched in disgust as the monster closed his eyes in pleasure as Hermione struggled to get away from him. "Oh, yes. Dear sweet Hermione." He whispered, loud enough for the whole room to hear. "I couldn't believe my good fortune when you stumbled into my area of the forest. So beautiful, such a lovely neck."

The monster let his finger tips graze her neck, before kissing the trail that they left. She began crying again as she felt the wetness of his tongue on her skin. Its eyes showed his mirth as he stared directly at Severus across the room. Severus watched on in horror at seeing this creature defile his _wife_ while he was unable to stop it. Hermione was beside herself in fear and so vulnerable in her thin, white nightdress. The fabric was translucent in the candle light and he could see the duskiness of her nipples. It should be him to embrace Hermione not this fiend. Oh, how had it come to this.

Severus looked away when the monster let his hand come up and cup Hermione's breast. She was stiff under his touch. "Oh, you are so sweet little one, so innocent." After a few moments, he stopped kissing her neck, revealing a dark red bruise to Severus. He'd marked his poor wife. "As payment, Severus, I will take Hermione as my own, and then I promise I will not kill you or anyone else you have left in your life."

Severus immediately scowled. "I am not letting you have my wife! Get your filthy hands off of her." He demanded.

"Are you certain that's what you want, Severus? Don't you remember our original terms?" The monster countered.

Severus did remember the creature's original terms, to kill him and everyone that he loved. But surely, this monster wouldn't kill Hermione? She hadn't done anything wrong. His eyes flickered to Sirius over in the corner, the man hadn't moved an inch since Severus had entered the room. He suddenly had the sinking realization that Sirius wouldn't be moving ever again.

Instead of responding to the monster, he lunged for his wand in the corner of the room. When he retrieved the piece of wood, he heard the monster's low chuckle from across the room. "Dear, sweet Hermione. I am afraid that Severus chose the wrong answer. I'd just as soon have you warm my bed every night as we traveled the world."

Severus trained his wand on the creature, but felt his heart sink when he realized that the way the creature was positioned; he would never be able to get an offensive strike off without hitting Hermione too. "Accio Hermione." He tried, desperately.

Hermione didn't move an inch.

"Hermione, love, say goodbye to Severus." The monster instructed.

"Pl-please." She pleaded, the voice waivering between the sobs that wracked her body. "Don't do this, Tom. I will go with you, if you leave Severus alone."

"I am sorry darling, but he needed to give you up selflessly." The monster told her again. "Now say goodbye, I won't tell you again."

"Goodbye, Severus. I lo-love you." Hermione said, her eyes staring into his. Severus could see all the love that she felt for him, pouring out of her expressive brown eyes.

Then, the monster took the hand wrapped around her neck and twisted, snapping her neck in a sick crunch of bone. Her eyes stayed helplessly open, staring at Severus after death. It was the sight that would haunt him more than anything. "No!" He called.

The monster just laughed and tossed her to the bed, where she bounced, helplessly.

Realizing that he could get a clear strike off on the monster, Severus immediately tried cursing him. "Avada Kedavra!" He'd never meant the curse so much, and watched in morbid satisfaction as the green light came jetting out of the tip of his wand.

The monster didn't even flinch as he blocked the curse, sending it flying off the wall. Severus tried again and again, but the creature was just blocking curse after curse. Severus began to feel himself tire out, but was unwilling to stop. The creature was toying with him, he realized with dread.

Deciding to try a different approach he lunged at the creature, wrapping his hands around its neck. He tried not to shudder at the feel of its skin, almost as if it had scales. The monster didn't hesitate to wrap his own hands around Severus's throat. He was surprised by how strong the creature was, it's thumbs effectively cutting off air to his windpipe.

Severus began kicking as he realized that he was beginning to die. His body rebelled at the lack of oxygen and he was desperate to get free. He kicked at the monster, but still nothing happened. The monster just stared at him with its cruel red eyes. Black pin pricks began to form in his eyes.

And then nothing.

* * *

Severus wasn't sure how long he'd been passed out, as it was still dark out when he woke up on the cold stone floor of Hermione's eyes. A note was all that the creature left him.

 _I will give you a week's head start, but then I will find you and I will kill you. I am much too lonely to give up my human companionship so easily._

Severus packed lightly and then headed off North, as far North as he could get, wondering the whole time what he'd done to have this animal chasing him, his human prey. But the memory of its red eyes and serpentine face were enough to have him run as far away as he was able.


End file.
